Triplehead2go and surfaces

[rmurphy]

Hello all-

Some time ago we had show with three unique video streams to three projectors using a Matrox triplehead2go and Qlab V2. My approach (please tell me if this was wrong) was to assign a given cue a position along the very wide desktop provided by the th2g appropriate for its designated projector. We're doing it again, but now I have surfaces in V3. Should I be using sufraces to do this more efficiently? I admit I'm having trouble fully conceptualizing the surface thing.

Thanks in advance,

Ron Murphy

[Dave "luckydave" Memory]

On Wednesday, October 2, 2013 at 9:56 AM, rmurphy wrote:

Hello all-

My approach (please tell me if this was wrong) was to assign a given cue a position along the very wide desktop provided by the th2g appropriate for its designated projector. We're doing it again, but now I have surfaces in V3. Should I be using sufraces to do this more efficiently?

If you have a Pro Video license, you can create a surface for each output of the TH2G, using partial screens to put each third on its own surface, and then you can address each independently in your video cues.

-- 

luck...@figure53.com 

[Mike P]

> On Oct 2, 2013, at 10:09 AM, Dave luckydave Memory <luck...@figure53.com> wrote:


> If you have a Pro Video license, you can create a surface for each output of the TH2G, using partial screens to put each third on its own surface, and then you can address each independently in your video cues.
>

Which works incredible well... I used this idea to map just the center projector in a Triplehead and then add another projector focused below it on a separate output which I could then edge blend to the Matrox projector. Really opened up the possibilities...

Mike Post
(601) 307-8657
mdp...@mac.com
http://mdpostdesign.com

[Ronald Murphy]

Partial screens. I see them now. I wasn't aware of them from the tutorial videos. Must have missed it somehow. I think I see what I need to do. Three surfaces, each which one of the three-wide 1/3 partial screens. I'll try it out tonight. Thank you.

Ron

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Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2013 10:09:16 -0400
From: luck...@figure53.com
To: ql...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [QLab] Triplehead2go and surfaces

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[Ronald Murphy]

It looks like I'm talking directly to you, Dave, so thank you for giving me some of your valuable time. I appreciate the work you and the team put into making Qlab what it is.

But I'm still confused. Again, I have a TripleHead2Go which, I guess, is called a "screen". Qlab has assigned a default surface to this named "Display". As expected, it's very wide: 3840 X 1024. What I THOUGHT I wanted to do was to create three surfaces, each corresponding to one of three "partial screens", one for the left of the TH2G "Display", one for the middle, and one for the right. This way a given video can simply be assigned to one of these screens, and I won't have to use Custom Geometry to position each and every video at its appropriate position on the wide TH2G screen like I used to. Is this the philosophy? In Preferences/Video, I see the laptop single-screen/surface and the "Display" single-screen/surface. I see I can create a new surface, and within that new surface I can create three "partial screens", but I don't know how to assign these to the TH2G "Display" or how to position them on it. Editing the TH2G "Display" gives me NO options to assign surfaces to any "partial screens" of it. Please help. I'm clearly missing something here.

Thank you again,

Ron Murphy

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Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2013 10:09:16 -0400
From: luck...@figure53.com
To: ql...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [QLab] Triplehead2go and surfaces

[Michael Long]

>but I don't know how to assign these to the TH2G "Display" or how to position them on it.

First, you need to create three new surfaces. These will each be assigned to different projectors, and you can name each of them whatever will help you distinguish them. When you click Edit... next to one of your new surfaces you will first see the option to name them at the top. You should see a little + button in the bottom left corner: this is the button for assigning which screen will go on this surface. When you click on that button, a little popup window will appear that lists all of your screens, as well as partial version of them. You'll want to pick one of the 1/3 partials of your TH2G. Once you click on that, it will add it to the list above. Then you can check the Grid option next to your newly added screen, which will send a grid to your projector, which will help you make sure you have the right partial selected. One surface will need the first 1/3, one will need the second 1/3, and one will need the third 1/3. Hope this answers your question!

--
Michael Long
Projection Designer - Philadelphia

[Ronald Murphy]

Thank you for you quick reply! I did this, but I don't have the three projectors here at home, nor even three monitors, so I can't be sure it's really working, of course. Nowhere do I get to see a layout confirming that, for example, partial screen 2/3 is really going to be positioned at the middle third of the wide TH2G image; that is, to output 2 of the TH2G, but that is what will happen? I need to get some monitors in here.

Thanks again,

Ron

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Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2013 10:42:27 -0700
From: mlon...@gmail.com

To: ql...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [QLab] Triplehead2go and surfaces

[Kelly Schmidt]

The partial screens splits the total width / N. So a TripleHead @ 3840px wide with a 1/3,2/3,3/3 would split that into three 1280 screens falling at 0px, 1280x, and 2560px. So if you used the 3 partial screens on a TripleHead (2 Partial on a DualHead), you can be confident that it will work 1) because of math and 2) because many of us have tried it. 

Even if something went awry, setup your surfaces and cues to the individual surfaces now. You can then change the screen alignment in settings after the fact in the space (including projector selection as well as corner pinning etc). It's part of the beauty of the abstracted patching.

[Ronald Murphy]

I worked! It worked!

Well, okay, it didn't work. Created the three surfaces, plugged the one external monitor I have into output 2 of the TH2G, clicked on Grid for surface 2 and, indeed, the grid showed up on the monitor. Dragged a jpeg into Qlab and assigned it to the 2/3 surface. Fired cue and nothing. I had to quit Qlab and start completely over and THEN it worked; apparently just redefining things within the same session didn't really do it. 

Thank you again!

Ron

Okay, not so good. Created the three surfaces, plugged the one external monitor I have into output 2 of the TH2G, clicked on Grid and, indeed, the grid showed up on the monitor. Dragged a jpeg into Qlab and assigned it to the 2/3 surface. Fired cue and nothing. Didn't touch any parameter of the cue. Opacity is 100%. Maybe this is not related to the surfaces/TH2G? I tried going back to the old way, assigned the video to "Display" (the TH2G) and positioned it at the middle of the wide screen. Still nothing. Qlab still does jpegs, right? This is my first experience with Qlab V3. Have been a V2 man for some time, though.

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Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2013 10:42:27 -0700
From: mlon...@gmail.com

To: ql...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [QLab] Triplehead2go and surfaces

[Ronald Murphy]

Too bad you can't have three audition windows. Apparently only the most-recently fired cue shows up there.

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Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2013 10:42:27 -0700
From: mlon...@gmail.com

To: ql...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [QLab] Triplehead2go and surfaces

[Kelly Schmidt]

Just want to make sure, can you see the desktop background on the connected monitor?

If not, then you need to make sure your TH2G is talking to your Mac. Start by installing PowerDesk. 

Sorry if you already have it working, but it helps to know what is working to dissect what isn't.